MSU recruit Corey Potter, upon returning from Siberia, both verified and discredited the mental image most Americans have about the frosty central Russian region.
“It was really cold, but it wasn’t that bad,” said Potter, who signed a National Letter of Intent with MSU in November. “It wasn’t much colder than Michigan.”
Potter, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound defenseman, traveled to Siberia with the Under-18 U.S. National Development Team for the Five Nations Cup from Feb. 6-9. The U.S. team, which is based in Ann Arbor, earned a silver medal at the tournament with a 3-1-0 record.
The United States beat Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, but lost to eventual gold medalist Russia.
Okemos native Potter said he pretty much “ate, slept and played hockey” throughout the trip, but noticed some unique attributes of Siberian residents.
“The people over there are pretty low key - they all wear black and don’t talk very much,” Potter said.
But U.S. defenseman and Rhode Island native Evan Shaw, who will sign with MSU in April, had a much different experience with the local population.
“I got spit on before the Russian game,” said the 6-2, 201-pound Shaw. “Some people were friendly, but others you could tell didn’t like us. They threw us the finger when we drove by in our bus. I’m not sure if it was a political thing or not, or if it was just because we were playing the Russian team.
“The kids that were our age, a lot of them really liked us. They were asking us what it’s like in America and telling us how it’s their dream to come here. You could see the economic crisis they have over there as soon as you stepped off the plane.”
Four and a half?
MSU (21-6-5 overall, 15-5-4 CCHA) stayed at No. 5 in this week’s USCHO.com poll, behind No. 1 Denver, No. 2 St. Cloud State, No. 3 New Hampshire and No. 4 Minnesota.
The USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll ranks an identical top three teams, but MSU edged up a spot to No. 4. The Golden Gophers fell from fourth to sixth, while Boston University climbed into No. 5.
Despite a win over No. 10 Michigan on Saturday, MSU stayed No. 7 in the latest Pairwise Rankings, which mimic the method the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to choose and seed teams.
Buckeye busters
MSU travels to Miami (Ohio) this weekend with an odd streak on the line. The Spartans haven’t lost to a team from Ohio since getting swept at Miami on Nov. 19-20, 1999.
Since then, MSU is 13-0-3 against teams from the Buckeye State with the following breakdown: 6-0-0 vs. Miami, 4-0-2 vs. Ohio State and 3-0-1 vs. Bowling Green.
Down to the wire
MSU and U-M are tied atop the CCHA standings with 34 points apiece and each have four games remaining. MSU plays two at 10th-place Miami and then has a home-and-home series against eighth-place Ferris State on March 1-2.
U-M hosts sixth-place Ohio State for two games this weekend and then has a home-and-home with seventh-place Western Michigan.
If MSU and U-M are tied for the league lead at the end of the season, they will be co-champions. But for CCHA Tournament purposes, there are tiebreakers in place to determine the No. 1 seed. The first tie-breaker is league wins (currently tied at 15 apiece), followed by head-to-head competition in league games (two ties), followed by goal differential in head-to-head league games (4-4).
MSU’s 3-1 win over U-M on Saturday doesn’t factor in because it was a nonconference game.
So, if the teams finish with the same number of league points and league wins, the fourth tiebreaker will be implemented - record against the third-place team. Right now, that’s Alaska-Fairbanks, which would give U-M the tiebreak because of its 2-0 record versus the Nanooks (MSU is 0-2).
Other highly possible third-place finishers are Nebraska-Omaha - which would benefit U-M - or Northern Michigan, which would help MSU.
